US ADP employment grew only 374k in August, well below expectation of 650k. By company size, small businesses added 86k jobs, medium businesses added 149k, large businesses added 138k. By sector, goods-producing jobs grew 45k while service-providing jobs grew 329k.
“Our data, which represents all workers on a company’s payroll, has highlighted a downshift in the labor market recovery. We have seen a decline in new hires, following significant job growth from the first half of the year,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP.
“Despite the slowdown, job gains are approaching 4 million this year, yet still 7 million jobs short of pre-COVID-19 levels. Service providers continue to lead growth, although the Delta variant creates uncertainty for this sector. Job gains across company sizes grew in lockstep, with small businesses trailing a bit more than usual.”
